Heat filled his cheeks as they chuckled at the king’s comment. Kansas glared at Fenna and Lenard. Weren’t they supposed to be his friends? Instead they were telling the king every detail of their adventure since Kansas arrived.
“He didn’t enjoy it as much as it enjoyed him,” Lenard offered quietly, drawing Z’s avid attention.
“Truly? How unusual,” he murmured. “Those waters are sacred. Blessed by the GW.”
Kansas squirmed in discomfort. “Yeah, it was an experience.”
One he didn’t want to talk about in front of anyone. Ever.
This had been a strange evening all the way around. The king had invited them for
dinner— Fenna, Lenard, Kansas and Z, who’d brought Pan along for company. Kansas had even been unchained, bathed and dressed for the event, feeling not a little like some kind of sacrificial lamb.
He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but this relaxed, charming version of the king was making him suspicious. There’d been no apology for his imprisonment. He was simply acting as if nothing had happened.
Z sat beside Kansas on the sofa, Pan at his feet, watching the scene in silent serenity. No one else seemed to notice that every corner of this room looked more like it was made for fucking than eating. Plush pillows strewn across the floor, a large bed in the corner and a roaring fire. Despite all appearances, Kansas knew it wasn’t the king’s bedroom since that was where he’d been chained up for the last eighteen hours.
Maybe it was the royal orgy room.
The thought was irritating.
He stabbed a purple peapod with the wooden stick they’d given him to eat with, shuddering as he swallowed the bitter tasting vegetable. Nearly everything he’d eaten since he arrived had been delicious, but this he could live without. “What I wouldn’t give for some French fries and a burger. Maybe a chocolate shake.”
Several curious gazes turned his way. He shrugged. “Our food is a little different than yours.”
“Our?” The king’s gaze was piercing. He’d been pretending indifference to Kansas all evening, just as Z had promised he would. Lounging on the pillows, offering sensual smiles to a besotted Lenard and caressing Fenna’s feathery thigh.
But he couldn’t stop his gaze from following every move Kansas made, or the impatience rolling off him in waves. It was a hopeful sign. “Tell us, human, what your clan is like. What you eat. What you do for pleasure.”
Kansas leaned forward, elbows on his knees, determined to stare the smug blueblood down. “Well there are a lot of us, and we’re all different, like you. Instead of Gliders and Equus and Felix, we are just different shades of human. Black, brown, olive—”
“Cream?”
Kansas hid his smile as he nodded toward his friend. “Yes, Lenard, some of us are pale as cream when we don’t go out in the sun. We have more kinds of food than I could eat in one lifetime, though I have a preference for all things spicy and sweet.” The king focused on his lips as he slowly formed those words. Kansas licked his lips.
“And pleasure?”
“Compared to this world, we’re repressed. But I imagine we’re not that different. We eat a lot. We enjoy music and movies.” Kansas caught Pan’s eye. “Storytelling with moving pictures.”
“Do you enjoy those things with others? Specific others?”
The question was sharp enough to draw attention. The king was fishing. “Are you asking about dating or fucking? Because I’ve done a lot of both.”
Z choked on his drink and Pan reached up to pat him on the back solicitously. Fenna smiled admiringly at Kansas, but he only had eyes for the king. Who, for the record, did not seem amused.
“These people you date and fuck, are you sure they won’t come looking for you when you don’t return?”
Kansas shrugged nonchalantly, hoping no one noticed the tension humming through him. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll be home before anyone notices I’m gone.”
He knew it was killing the king that his question had gone unanswered. He could almost hear his thoughts. Had Kansas lied about not having a lover back home? Was that why he’d denied him? Why he was determined to leave?
The king stood abruptly, spearing Kansas with a defiant look as he took the cell phone out of his belt and tossed it to him. “Will that man worry?”
Kansas looked down to see the one picture of his ex he hadn’t been able to delete from his phone. He and Danny at the beach, celebrating on the day they’d decided to move in together. One good memory followed by a million mistakes.
“Well?” The king demanded.
“No.” Kansas felt his throat tighten. “He won’t worry at all. He never did.”